The Seasons Upon Us
by flutterdash1
Summary: Applejack drops preparations for her own family's Hearth's Warming Day celebration when she finds out that her marefriend, Rainbow Dash, is going to go visit her family for the first time in a few years.
1. Preparations

**The Season's Upon Us  
~*~*~**

Winter was Rainbow Dash's favorite season of the year. The weather was more predictable, she rarely had to spend a day clearing clouds since they were more or less necessary to keep the weather cool, the air was always crisp and refreshing and, more recently, she could spend all the time in the world with her marefriend, Applejack. The farm required much less work over winter between harvests so the farmer had much more time to spend together.

Today she was planning to take Applejack ice skating down by Clover Pond and she was prepared to help with any household chores the blonde mare needed to take care of beforehand. The sooner they were out of the house the better, in Rainbow Dash's opinion. The Cutie Mark Crusaders took advantage of their winter break and badgered her whenever they saw her to help them on their mission. Today she'd given them the slip by sending them off to try making igloos then dashing into the cloud layer over Ponyville.

Once at the farmhouse, Rainbow Dash knocked on the brown wood door once and was instantly greeted by a rather miffed large red stallion. He wasn't looking at Rainbow Dash though, he was looking over his shoulder and huffing.

"Ah said I'll get it!" he shouted, turning and almost colliding into Rainbow Dash. "Oh, sorry there Rainbow Dash," he said to the startled pegasus.

"Heh, no problem Mac," Rainbow Dash said, nearly ready to jump to the side had he not seen her.

"Hey ahm glad yer here," Big Mac said as he walked by her, "Git in there and calm AJ down a bit, will ya?"

"Uh, sure," Rainbow Dash said with a level of confusion, "Calm her down from what, exactly?"

"She's planin' the family Hearth's Warming Day party," Big Mac said, "And she's gettin on mah nerves with it."

"Ah, gotcha," Rainbow Dash said with a wink. She knew Applejack could get quite hectic when it came to planning a big event. The day to day operations of the farm she could handle with no issue whatsoever, but when she's trying to plan something big she ended up displaying her control issues. The fiasco at her last family reunion was evidence enough of that, as well as Applejack's attempt to throw a surprise party for Dash without resorting to asking Pinkie Pie for some pointers.

Rainbow Dash walked into the Apple Family house and looked around. Hearth's Warming decorations were strewn about in random, haphazard piles and Granny Smith was in her rocking chair with a pair of knitting needles looking like she was trying to knit a massive stocking made of stringed lights.

"Hey Granny Smith," Rainbow Dash said, "Whatcha up to?"

"Ahm _tryin'_ ter untangle these fangled lights," she said while sticking her tongue out through her wrinkled lips in concentration, "Applejack's in the dinnin' room makin' all the plans. And if ya see Applebloom tell 'er ah need 'er to help clean out the chimney for Santa Hooves." She chuckled a little.

Rainbow Dash chuckled also while nodding. "Alright, no problem," she said, walking around through the living room then into the adjoining dining room where Applejack was staring down at a list on the table, her hat placed to one side.

Rainbow Dash walked up behind her and took her hat from the table, putting it on her own head and tossing her foreleg around Applejack's shoulders.

"Whatcha dooooooin?" She asked in a playful tone.

"Ahm workin," Applejack answered shortly, a bit terse, and elbowed Rainbow Dash aside, "And ah don't need you interruptin' me."

"Jeez, relax AJ," Rainbow Dash said while rubbing her side. "I think you need to let someone else take care of this and rel-"

"Granny's too old and Mac's too lazy," Applejack argued without looking away from the long checklist she had on the table, occasionally writing some note in a margin, "And Applebloom's too young."

"Hey, you told me about your family reunion," Rainbow Dash said, "You told me yourself that you were out of control."

"Ah know," Applejack said, "That's why ahm keepin' track of everythin' and runnin' it by Granny and Mac first. Actually, could you take a look-"

"Nope," Rainbow Dash said, taking the hat off and putting it back on Applejack's head, "You and I are going ice skating."

"Ah can't Dashie," Applejack said with an annoyed sigh, "Ah need-"

"To chillax," Rainbow interrupted, lowering her head and pressing it against Applejack's shoulder, pushing her away from the table, "You and I are going out right now, and stop fighting."

"Dash, really, this ain't funny."

"I'm not laughing," Rainbow Dash said, but she was grinning ear to ear at how much Applejack was resisting her.

"Granny!" Applejack called when Rainbow Dash shoved her out into the living room where the old green mare was still fiddling with the lights, "Tell Dash here that ahm far too busy plannin' this shindig to go ice skatin'."

"Ice skating sounds like a lovely idear," Granny Smith said in an absent minded way while working a long line of lights loose from the massive conglomeration in the middle, "Have fun you two!"

"Haha!" Rainbow Dash laughed triumphantly while still pushing Applejack towards the door. By the time they were outside Applejack had started moving of her own accord so Rainbow Dash could walk next to her rather than shove her. The couple headed across the thin layer of snow on the ground to the barn where their ice skates were. Retrieving them, they carried their skates by tying the laces together and hanging them around their necks as they walked out to the pond.

"Sorry ah was bein' so rude," Applejack said as they walked under one of the barren apple trees, "Ahm just-" she was cut off as a clump of snow fell off of a branch and landed on her hat. "What the hay?" Rainbow Dash had jumped up and shook the branch to cause the snow to fall and now laughed beside her.

"Told ya you needed to cool down." she said.

"Heheheh," Applejack laughed, taking off her hat and shaking the snow from it, "Ah guess ah deserved that, but that's you're freebie for the day. Try that again and ah'll get ya back."

"Heheheh" Rainbow Dash giggled in return, "Fine, fine, lets save our energy for the ice."

"Ah here that," Applejack said, kissing Rainbow Dash on the cheek as they walked. Rainbow blushed while smiling and extended her wing to rest it across Applejack's back. Applejack returned the affection by resting her head against Rainbow Dash's neck. "Ahh, this is perty nice."

"We're not even at the pond yet," Rainbow Dash said with a short laugh. She bit the brim of Applejack's hat and flipped it up into the air to have it land on her own head, letting Applejack relax against her a little easier while they walked.

"Don't need to be. Ahm just enjoyin' you." Applejack said. Rainbow Dash's cheeks reddened again. That was one competition she always lost to Applejack; saying sweet things. Somehow the blonde mare always knew how to top anything Rainbow Dash tried to do or say.

At the pond, Applejack and Rainbow Dash helped each other put on their ice skates and then they moved out onto the frozen water. Applejack had more experience with the activity and could skate rather well. Rainbow Dash relied heavily on her wings to help her balance, accelerate, and slow herself down. She also went airborne a few times to prevent herself from falling over her own hooves. Still, it was a learning experience, and Rainbow Dash was fine with learning something new and appearing pretty bad at it so long as the the number of witnesses was Applejack and nopony else.

"So why are you stressing so much over a Hearth's Warming Day party?" Rainbow Dash asked while using her wings to push herself in a straight line and getting ready to try to do a U-turn. "Didn't you learn your lesson?"

"Yah just don't get mah family," Applejack said as she moved around Rainbow Dash, literally skating circles around her. "Ah may have gone a lil' overboard at mah family reunion last year, but mah family's really rowdy. Ah gotta keep everyone entertained ya know. Ain't nothin' worse than a bored Apple. They get crayzeh."

"Heh," Rainbow Dash chuckled, just letting her momentum keep her moving forward in a straight line. "If you think your family is crazy, you should come meet mine."

This comment cause Applejack to freeze up for a moment and blink, a look of bewilderment dawning on her face. "Hey Dash...why ain't ah ever met your family?" she asked. Now Rainbow Dash seemed to freeze in place, though it was difficult to tell as she had barely moved any muscle from her neck down since setting hoof on the ice.

"Well uh..." Rainbow said, "They're all up in Vanhoover and-"

"Vanhoover?" Applejack asked, "Yer Caneighdian?" A grin formed on her face and she started to chuckle.

"What's so funny?" Rainbow Dash asked in a defensive manner, squinting slightly at Applejack in an almost confrontational way. The two shared that kind of look on a daily basis though, so while one of their other friends might have started to backpedal and calm Dash down, Applejack felt the urge to poke the hornet's nest.

"Oh nothin'." Applejack said. She grinned mischievously and then started to talk in an exaggerated Caneighdian accent, "Why not tell me aboot your family then, eh? I don't even know your parent's names or if you have any brothers or sisters. I'm very interested in your life Dashie don'tcha know?"

"Shut the hay up!" Rainbow Dash yelled, jumping at Applejack. The experienced ice skater nimbly slid to one side and the pegasus missed her completely, hitting the ice and sliding the remaining distance across the pond and into a small bank of snow.

Applejack burst out laughing, laying on the ice and clutching her sides. Rainbow Dash pushed herself free of the snow and shook her head to get cold substance out of her mane. She muttered under her breath while rubbing her head, turning around to glare at her laughing marefriend. The frown started to quiver and twist upwards. She began to chuckle, and soon she was sitting in the snow laughing as much as Applejack.

Applejack came off of the frozen water and joined Rainbow Dash, who was standing up and wiping more snow off of her coat. They headed back to the farm part way, but once they came to the main dirt road leading to Sweet Apple Acres they turned the other direction and made their way to Ponyville. As they walked, Dash explained that she was _not_ Caneighdian but that her family had moved from Cloudsdale up to Vanhoover shortly after Dash had graduated the Flight Academy. She had stayed behind to follow her dream to join the Wonderbolts.

"Since you mentioned it," Rainbow Dash said during the walk, looking down a bit at the ground, "I, uh, well, I was planning to actually go see my family this Hearthswarming Eve. You don't mind, do you?"

"Mind?" Applejack asked.

"Well I mean," Dash cut in quickly, "I see your family a lot, a-and don't get me wrong; I love them. Your family is great. I just don't get to see mine that much. Once every few years, and this year I told them I would be-"

"Ah don't mind one bit!" Applejack said happily, "Hay, I'll come with ya! You can introduce me to yer parents and ah can finally get to meet mah future in-laws."

"Yeah...wait what?" Rainbow asked.

"Ah wanna go too." Applejack said.

"But...what about your family?" Rainbow asked, "You've spent all this time setting up and-"  
"Pff," Applejack said, waving her hoof, "All the hard stuff is done. Mac 'n Granny Smith can handle the rest. Besides, ah see most of mah family three or four times a year. Ah live with mah closest family. You ought to have nothin' keepin' ya from yers, and ah wanna get to know them ponies who made ya who ya are. Hehehe, must be one awesome family if y'all are the result, oh great and fabulous and awesome Rainbow Dash."

"Really AJ," Rainbow said, "I don't want to make you miss out on-"

"It ain't nothin'." Applejack said, "Quit bein' silly. Ah can't wait to meet yer family. Ahm sure we'll all get along like apples and fritters."

"Uh...heheh..yeah..." Rainbow Dash said nervously, "I'll...uh... write them and..uh... let them know you'll be coming too."


	2. Journey North

The faded purple walls of Ponyville's train station vanished in a sudden burst of steam and with a lurch, the train began to move forward. Rainbow Dash was looking out the window, waving her hoof at her friends. Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Twilight, and Fluttershy had all come to see her and Applejack off for their trip.

Applejack was tucking her saddlebags under the seat when the train lurched. Knowing they were now leaving, she jumped to the window and opened it up. Leaning out the window, Applejack lifted her hat in one hoof and shouted "See y'all in a few days!" before coming back into the cart and shutting the window.

"Y'all sure ah shouldn't bring anything?" Applejack asked, glancing down at the floor where a corner of her saddlebags was visible. All she had packed was an apple pie and a coat in case it was colder than she was comfortable with up north.

"I'm sure," Rainbow Dash said with a groan, having repeated that five times already, "My mom insists on doing all of the cooking and we don't exchange gifts for Hearth's Warming Day. My family isn't exactly...traditional."

"Heh, y'all talkin' to me 'bout 'traditional' families? Mah Hearth's Warmin' Day parties have third 'n fourth cousins attendin'. Basically as big as the Apple Family Reunion."

"Yeah...well...you'll see." Rainbow Dash said. Applejack fidgeted a little on her seat and looked down at her hooves.

"Ah still feel weird." Applejack said, "That spell Twilight used to let me walk on the clouds...ah feel like ahm made of straw. Like ahm gonna get blown away in a gust of wind."

"Well, it worked well enough when you guys came to visit Cloudsdale." Rainbow Dash said.

"Doesn't make it feel any less funny now." Applejack said. "So! Can we go over yer family's names again? I got that yer ma is Rainbow Shine and yer dad is Sky Prism, who else is gonna be there?"

"I'm not sure, exactly." Rainbow Dash said, "It's not much of an 'RSVP' sort of affair. If someone can come, they'll come." She shrugged, "Usually my grandparents are there; Latte Drop and Moon Drop are my mom's parents and Sergeant Breeze and Spring Breeze are my dad's parents. Then some mix of my sisters, brothers, aunts, and uncles."

"Ya never told me you had brothers and sisters!" Applejack said, a glimmer of excitement in her eyes.

"Well-"

"Are any of'em like you?" Applejack asked, "Ah always figured if you had brothers you'd be the one to make sure they don't think girls are sissies."

"Ehh..." Rainbow Dash said, lifting her hoof and making a 'so-so' gesture. "My sisters and I outnumbered my brothers. Seven girls, including me, and two brothers."

"Yer folks had _nine_ kids!" Applejack exclaimed, "How the hay did y'all fit in one house?" She put on a false suspicious expression. "Are your parents millionaires?"

"What? No!" Rainbow Dash said, grinning a little despite her passive unease. "Heh, no. There's just a lot of room in a house full of pegasai. I mean...we're not all stuck on the floor."

"Ah, that makes sense then." Applejack said as she envisioned a house full of little Rainbow Dashs, flying everywhere and all over the place.

"Yeah, so my brothers never really tried to pull any of that macho crap. Violet and Sapphire are the oldest, then Straight Song and Pearl Pop. They're twins. Then me, then Rhyming Shine, then Vic then Cloudy Day. She's the youngest."

"Middle child?" Applejack said with a pop of her eyebrow. "That explains-"

"Shut up," Rainbow said, reaching across the gap between their seats and pulling Applejack's hat down over her face. "I've heard that enough to tell you that that's complete horseapples."

"Really now?" Applejack asked, looking bemused.

"Yeah!" Rainbow Dash said, "Of everyone in my family, I'm the -most- successfull. I'm the Ponyville Weather Team Leader, don't forget." Applejack knew that. If it wasn't for Dash's job, Applejack wouldn't be able to get forewarnings of upcoming weather changes and, she suspected, get preferential weather treatment duringvital times of the harvest.

"What does the rest of yer family do?" Applejack asked.

Rainbow Dash turned and looked out the window at the passing scenery. She rested her elbow on the arm of her seat and put her chin on her hoof while shrugging. "Dad works at the Vanhoover Rainbow Factory and mom stays at home. Last time I talked to my brothers and sisters, half of them were unemployed and the other half were involved in some get rich quick scheme with my uncle Soda Craft."

Applejack felt an odd sensation. She wasn't sure if she should be feeling pity for Rainbow Dash and her family situation, or if she should just accept it as it was. Was her own idea of what ponies did with themselves presumptuous? She considered herself as open-minded as the next pony, but having eight siblings who were just layabouts didn't sound like something she'd be as okay with as Dash seemed to be.

"So...uh..." Applejack said, "How long of a train ride are we lookin' at?"

"Six hours." Rainbow Dash said. She looked back at Applejack and frowned a bit. "Listen, AJ, my family isn't really...functional."

"You told me that already." Applejack said, "And ah told you that if you care for 'em enough to visit, ah'm goin' to."

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Rainbow Dash said, "I just wanted to tell you that if at any point you want to leave, just tell me and we'll go. I won't ask any questions and I won't be offended at all. Seriously. And neither will any of them."

"Well that just ain't gonna happen." Applejack said, crossing her forelegs and upturning her head. "Yer just gonna have to accept that ahm going to get to know yer family and love'em as much as ah love my own."

Rainbow Dash sighed and rolled her eyes. "I never said you weren't going to_love_ them. But you might not _like_ them."

"Ah ain't followin' ya."

"Well...that's kinda how I feel about them. I love them all, but I don't like any of them."

"How can you not like your family?" Applejack asked.

"It's hard to explain." Rainbow Dash said, turning around to lay down on her seat, stretching her legs and wings while yawning. "You'll see when we get there though. I'll give you...hrm...ten minutes."

"Wanna make that a bet?" Applejack asked.

"Heheh, okay." Rainbow Dash said, "I bet that before the end of the day, you won't like one member of my family."

"Yer on." Applejack said. "Loser takes the winner out for dinner."

"It's a bet." Rainbow Dash said, grinning. She spat on her hoof and held it out to Applejack who mirrored the gesture. The clopped their hooves together to seal the bet.


	3. Warm Welcome

The house of Rainbow Dash's family was one of the very few cloud houses in Vanhoover. Unlike Rainbow Dash's house, there were no glittering rainbow falls pouring from it, nor did it have a greek-mythical architecture. Instead, it looked more akin to the Apple Family homestead back at Ponyville except made of clouds instead of wood. It was also a bit bigger.

"Ah like it!" Applejack said when Rainbow Dash pointed it out up in the sky, "Nice and homey." She gave Dash a sly look and added "Looks like yer gonna be payin' for dinner." Rainbow Dash just rolled her eyes and flapped her wings to lift herself into the air. She hovered over Applejack and wrapped her forelegs around Applejack's torso. She flew up towards her family's home, carrying Applejack up with her.

Just before the door, Dash carefully lowered Applejack to the tuft of cloud that served as a front step, checking that Applejack was firmly planted on the cloud and was not about to sink through it before completely letting go of her. Once she did, there was a loud _crash_ from inside the house that sounded like something very fragile had just broken. Muffled shouting from a half dozen voices could be discerned through the walls. Applejack looked surprised and gave a questioning look to Rainbow Dash, seeing if she was as worried as Applejack was at the sound. Dash just rolled her eyes and sighed before opening the door.

"Dashie! Go put some lights on the tree then go hang the wreaths!" Said a mare as soon as Dash had opened the door. She had the same cyan coat as Dash but looked much older and sported a bright blonde mane styled in tight curls. Applejack guessed that this must have been Rainbow Dash's mom, Rainbow Shine. "Oh, hello there darling, you must be Applejack! Rainbow Dash mentioned you in a couple of her letters. Not that she write's home all that often so don't think less of her. All I've read are good things though. You two have been dating for some time, yes?"

"Hi mom, good to see you too. You're right, it's been way too long..." Rainbow Dash muttered while walking over to a pile of holiday wreaths. Applejack would have offered to help but Dash's mom was drawing her into a conversation.

"Oh where are my manners," She said, "I'm Rainbow Shine, little Dashie's much mother."

Applejack put on a friendly smile and held out her hoof. "Pleasure to meetcha ma'am."

"Oh just call me Shine, everypony does. " Rainbow Shine said, ignoring the outstretched hoof and pulling Applejack into a hug. "Let me give you the tour and introduce you to the rest of the family."

"That'd be great, but ah should probably help Dash with-OOF!" A blur of grey and yellow had come from out of nowhere and collided with Applejack's side. Had she not been used to getting tackled she might have had the wind knocked out of her.

Looking down, Applejack thought for a second that she had been hit by a miniature Derpy Hooves. After another second she could see that this was a colt though and his eyes were a shade of red rather than Derpy's amber.

"Twip! I said no running in the house!" Shine scolded the colt fiercely. He seemed not to pay her any mind though as he just stared up at Applejack.

"Howdy little partner." Applejack said, holding her hoof out to him. "Ahm-OUCH!" she cried out in pain. Twip had opened his mouth and bit her leg.

"Twip!" Shine yelled, "No biting guests!"

"Where's the rest of you?" the child asked Applejack.

Still wincing in pain from the cruel bite and cradling her leg, Applejack asked "What the hay do ya mean?"

"Where are your wings?"

"Mah wha-oh," Applejack said, smiling in amusement. "Ahm not a pegasus lil' feller. Ahm an earth pony."

"Then how are you up here on the cloud?" Twip asked.

"A friend of mine cast a spell on me." Applejack said, "It lets me walk on clouds like all y'all."

"That's wierd." Twip said, "Can I have your hat?"

"Heheh, hay no." Applejack said, "Ain't nopony allowed to have mah hat. 'Cept Rainbow Dash."

"Aunt Daaaaash!" Twip shouted, running down the hall and around a wall of cloud, looking for Rainbow Dash.

"Sorry about Twip," Rainbow Shine said, "He's a little rascal at times."

"Heh, ain't nothin." Applejack said.

"Heh, ain't nothin," Applejack said, "But before the tour ah was gonna go help Dash with the decor-"

"Nonsense!" Shine said with a big smile, "You're our guest and you won't lift a hoof while you're here." She grabbed Applejack's shoulder pulled her into the room that Twip had come from. In the room there was a large TV and some furniture crafted from clouds. One stallion was sitting in here, his mane a recognizable rainbow of color, but a few shades darker and containing some gray hairs.

"Honey," Shine said, walking up to his seat. He glanced in her direction, then at Applejack, his expression seeming tired and bored. "This is Applejack, Dashie's girlfriend."

"Hm." the stallion grunted, giving Applejack a slight nod.

"Applejack, this is my husband Sky Prism, Dashie's father."

"Pleasure to meetcha sir." Applejack said with a smile, a nod of her head, and a slight lifting of her hat.

"Mmhm." Sky Prism said, turning his attention back to the television and sipping at a dark amber drink. A brightly colored parrot sitting on Sky Prism's shoulder that Applejack had not noticed due to the similar color to the stallion's mane bent down and dipped its beak into the drink as well.

"That's Cantertot." Shine said when Applejack gave the parrot a double take. "He doesn't do much anymore. Mostly just spends time drinking with Sky."

"Huh..." Applejack said, unsure of what to say. Fortunately, Shine was leading her through the room and to another, so there seemed to be no need to make further comment. They walked through what Applejack figured was the dining room and into the kitchen. The farm pony had never seen the inside of a pegasai's house before; not even Dash's, which she was now regretting. The architecture of all the rooms was really interesting, but the sink was downright clever; a small basin formed of clouds with a small dark grey cloud floating over it. Applejack knew enough about how pegasai messed with the weather to guess that they squeezed the small grey one to spray water into the other clouds and wash whatever was in there.

"This is Moon Drop, my mother." Rainbow Shine said, gesturing to the old mare laying lazily on a cloud hovering near the ceiling of the room. She looked a bit like Applejack's own Granny Smith, except her coat was was a pale blue rather than any shade of green. She appeared to be napping so Applejack didn't say anything that might wake her up. "My father is outside with the grandcolts playing."

"Latte Drop, right?" Applejack asked, "Dash told me a bit about the family while we were on the train."

Back out in the hall Applejack saw Rainbow Dash and a pony that looked almost like Rarity floating through the air, hanging up bits of holly along the walls and talking. After a double-take, Applejack noticed that the dark purple mane was styled wrong and that this pegasai's coat wasn't near so pure white as Rarity's; it was more of a cream color. They spotted Applejack stepping into the hall and the cream colored mare beamed at her, flying forward and giving Applejack a big, surprising hug.

"Applejack, _darling_, it is _wonderful_ to meet you!" she said enthusiastically.

Rainbow Dash chuckled a bit at the bewildered expression on Applejack's face. She explained "This is my sister Pearl Pop."

"Oh, well howdy there Pearl Pop." Applejack said as she carefully extricated herself from the hug, "It's good to meet more of Dash's family."

"Ah yes, little Dashie." Pearl turned around and caught her younger sister's face in her hooves, squeezing her cheeks together. Now it was Applejack's turn to chuckle. "Such a pwecious widdle sistehw she is!"

"Knock that off!" Rainbow Dash said, shoving her older sister away before rubbing her aching cheeks, "I _hate_ it when you do that."

"Hehehehe," Applejack chortled, "Anything ah can do to help y'all with the decoratin?" she asked.

"Nah," Rainbow Dash said, "We're almost done. Just need to put up some more lights and a few more things. No offense, but without wings you really won't be able to help much."

"Ain't y'all got a ladder ah-" Applejack began to ask, but realized halfway through her comment that for a pegasus, owning a ladder would be rather pointless. "Nevermind." she said, "Ah'll just look around some and get to know yer family."

"If you see Violet, tell her that she's needed in the guest room, please." Pearl Pop requested, "Twip and Tweet are making a mess of things up there."

"You can't miss her." Dash added, "She looks like someone dipped a heavy Cheerilee in a vat of die that Rarity would use."

"Haha, now don't let Rarity hear you sayin' that." Applejack said. Rainbow Dash and her sister flew off, continuing to hang bits of holly in in the cloud walls as they moved. Applejack looked to the nearest room that wasn't the kitchen and headed in there to see if anypony was about.

While crossing the hall she heard the doorbell ring and looked down the main hall at the entrance. Nopony seemed to be going to get the door so she headed over to it. The moment the door was open, a stallion reeking of strong alcohol pulled her into a big bear hug.

"Hey Dashie!" He hollered, "Long time no see! Did you finally dye your mane?

"Uh..." Applejack tried to free herself of the stallion's grip but he was strong.

"Um, I thought you told me your sister was blue?" Another voice sounded from behind the stinking stallion. He slackened his grip on Applejack and took another look at her.

"You're not Rainbow Dash!" He said as though it was her fault.

"Er, no, ah aint." Applejack said, "Ahm Applejack."

"Applejack..." the stallion said, tapping his chin and looking thoughtful, "Now why does that sound familiar..."

"Because she's one of the Elements of Harmony!" the other voice said. Applejack got a look at the speaker this time and had to do another double-take. At first glance, the mare looked like a cow, but then the wings became visible and the lack of black spots on her otherwise cloud white coat.

"Oh hay you're right!" the stallion said, "Just like my sister!"

"So you weren't lying then!" the heavy mare said, "Rainbow Dash _is_ really your sister?"

"Told ya!" the stallion said, "And this here is her friend Applesmash."

"Applejack." Both Applejack and the heavy-set mare corrected him.

"Well _I_ am honored to meet one of the famous Elements of Harmony." the large one said. She reached out and took Applejack's hoof and shook it vigorously. "Oh, I'm Gristle Current."

"Uh, pleased to meetcha." Applejack said when she got her hoof back.

"And this sizzling stallion is Straight Song." She said, putting her foreleg around the stallion's shoulders.

"Rainbow Dash's big bro!" Song finished with a grin. "Yep! She learned all of her moves from me." He rubbed his hoof against his chest and examined it, as though it may have gotten a shine from such an inefficient method of cleaning.

"Really?" Dash's voice sounded behind Applejack. She turned and saw Rainbow Dash with her look of haughty confidence approaching with a small pile of bells balanced atop one of her outstretched wings.

"You know it!" Straight Song said, flying up and over Applejack to tackle Rainbow Dash, sending the bells up into the air. Applejack was quick to catch them on her back while the blue siblings wrestled around on the floor. For a moment, Straight Song had Rainbow Dash in a full nelson and was giving her a noogie with his hoof, but then there was another blur of motion and Rainbow Dash was shoving her brother's face down into the cloud, holding him there with her hind legs.

"Say uncle!" she called. There was a muffled response. "I can't hear you!"

"Uncle!" he shouted. Rainbow Dash laughed uproariously as she got off of him and let him stand back up.

"Oh my gosh you're Rainbow Dash!" Gristle said, moving past Applejack with speed surprising for her size and knocking her into one of the cloudhouse walls.

"Uh yeah," Rainbow said, looking momentarily surprised but then she clearly tried to pass it off as some casual remark, "You heard of me have you?"

"Have I?" Gristle asked, gushing, "You're one of my _idols_! The way you and your friends stopped Nightmare Moon! Oh and Discord! I read about that in the news! And the Crystal Empire and Sombra! Are you _really_ friends with one of the Princesses?"

"Heh, yeah." Rainbow Dash said, though her expression was less than haughty now and she looked almost as uncomfortable as Applejack was feeling. "AJ and I are best friends with Princess Twilight Sparkle."

"Oh-Em-See!" she screamed, her voice suddenly a much higher pitch than before. "You have to tell me all about her! And about when you fought Nightmare Moon! And Discord! And-"

"Clouds and stars, boy," A deep voice rumbled. Applejack looked towards the speaker and saw a stallion that looked a little like Rainbow Dash's father but his mane was not striped with a whole spectrum of colors; it was just black. "_Another_one?"

"Hey Uncle Flint!" Straight Song said, flying over everyponyelse's heads with his hoof up. The older stallion lifted his hoof and clopped it with his nephew.

"Ever think about bringing the same mare more than once to meet the family?" Uncle Flint asked. Applejack thought that was rather rude and looked over to Gristle Current to see if she was angry about it, but she seemed not to have heard and was instead pestering Rainbow Dash for more information about her exploits as the Element of Loyalty. "And do they always have to be so fa-"

"Hey Uncle Flint!" Rainbow Dash yelled over the questioning mare, "Are Sparky and Cloud Foot here?"

"Yeah," Flint answered, "Sparky is outside with Twip and Tweet. Cloud Foot is with your dad watching the Hoofball game."

"Hoofball?" Applejack asked, "Who's playin'?" Applejack had always loved watching and playing Hoofball. She was usually too busy on the farm to catch every game of a season, but when she could catch a game she was quite happy.

"The Rainbow Raiders versus the Ponyville Pioneers." Flint answered.

"The Ponyville Pioneers? Well hay, count me in!" Applejack said enthusiastically, walking around the hefty girlfriend of Rainbow Dash's brother and entering the livingroom with Uncle Flint. The room was much more crowded than it had been an hour ago when Applejack had met Sky Prism and Cantertot. Now there were also Uncle Flint and a young colt who had to be Cloud Foot. A dark purple mare that Applejack figured must have been Rainbow Dash's sister Violet, and a mare and stallion she hadn't yet met.

"YEAH!" they all cheered at once. Applejack looked to the television and saw that the Rainbow Raiders had just gotten the ball near the end of the field where they would be able to score. Applejack stepped a bit closer to the television as the ball was kicked into the air. One of the pegasai from the Rainbow Raiders flew up to kick it, but a smaller and quicker flier from the Ponyville Pioneers swooped in and intercepted the attempt to score, sending the ball soaring to the other end of the field.

"Yeehaw!" Applejack cheered, lifting her hat and waving it. At the same time, the pegasai all made groans and 'boos' at the play. All eyes focused on her cheering for a moment before going back to watch the game. Apparently she was the only pony from Ponyville here other than Dash, and Dash was still out decorating.

Not that that stopped Applejack. She cheered a few minutes later when the Pioneers scored regardless of the jeers from the rest of Dash's family. Dash herself peaked into the room at one point to make sure no one was getting rough with Applejack over the game and she was glad to see that everyone seemed to be having a good time. Her brother Vic was even handing a hoofful of bits to Applejack with an amused scowl on his face and Applejack was laughing, as were some of the others.

_Well its a good thing they're all getting along_ Rainbow Dash thought as she walked away. She went outside and stretched her wings, flying around the house to clear her head. Spending time with her family was always an exercise in patience for her and rarely let her escape without a migraine.

She saw her grandfater, Latte Drop, flying around behind the house with her nephews Tweet and Snowy Helm and her cousin Sparky. She didn't want to join in on their race because Sparky had a bad habit of calling out embaressing things to try and distract her. Dash could ignore such quips, but then her nephews would start asking her questions about what he'd said and then she would be in an uncomfortable situation.

Still, being out here alone was better than hanging around in the house with all of her ssiters. They were complete and total _whackjobs_. Between Pearl Pop having three dead husbands and, alcohol, Flutter Lance's and Sapphire Pauldron's peculiar 'closeness', Cloudy Day's constant depression and Rhyming Shine's contstant arguing with their mother, Dash felt not only normal and successful, but sometimes felt that having _no_ sisters might have been better. Of course, that thought usually vanished quite quickly; she wouldn't want her family to change a bit.

_Well, maybe a few things_ she thought while settling down on a cloud and looking up higher into the sky. With a deep breath she yawned. Helping set up the Hearth's warming decorations was quite tiring and she was ready for a nap. She should have brought Applejack up here with her. A little alone time would have done Dash some good.

Closing her eyes, she felt that common thankfulness that, as bad as her sister's were, they weren't near as big losers as their husbands. Their kids were also on that slippery slope towards being complete twerps as well. _I'm soooo glad I'm with Applejack._ she thought with a slight elation, _Our kids-_ her eyes snapped open at the thought. Kids...that was something she'd never thought of before. Did Applejack? _Hay...I should probably ask her about that._ she thought.

It had been more than a year since they started going out. Marriage was on the table now, though the idea still filled Dash with that odd queasy feeling. She did not hate the idea of marrying Applejack, but she was not entirely sure what to think about it other than suppress her gag reflex and try to avoid eating for a bit.

"Rainbow Daaaaaaaaaasssshhhhhhhhhh!" Rainbow Shine's voice sounded from below. Dash groaned; her mom _always_ knew when she needed some alone time to clear her head. Undoubtedly she had something else for Dash to do. Something stupid and boring, of course.

"Coming!" Dash called back, rolling off the cloud and enjoying free fall for a moment before flapping her wings and steering herself into the open window where her mother's voice had come from. "Sup?" She asked.

Rainbow Shine shoved a handfull of green prickly leaves and berries into Rainbow Dash's hooves. "Hang up the mistletoe," she said, "Then go up into the attic and find the Hearth's Warming carol songbooks so we can-"

"Aw c'mon mom," Dash groaned, rolling her eyes, "Everpony knows the Hearth's Warmong carols. What are the-"

"Tradition Dashie!" Rainbow Shine answered sharply, "Now don't back-talk your mother. Go on and hang up the mistletoe." Dash just groaned and floated away, rolling her eyes once her back was turned to her mom. She _hated_ coming home. She would probably do it more often if there was less demanding and complaining going on.

Floating from one archway to another, Rainbow Dash shoved bits of mistletoe into the clouds so they hung there. The hallway had the most entrances from one room to another so she spent a few minutes there, stopping for a moment to take a gander at the hoofball game that her family and Applejack seemed enthralled in. While she looked around, though, Applejack was able to sneak up on her.

"Hey there Dashie!" She said, a big smile on her face, "Yer family is the bee's knees, ah can't see why...oh hey! Mistletoe!" She said said after seeing the bundle in Dash's forelegs and the small bunch hanging over their heads.

"AJ wai-" Dash tried to say, but Applejack was tooq quick and pressed her lips to Dash's. Rainbow Dash could hardly pull away from Applejack's kiss and was, for a moment, blissfully unaware of the headache that was her family. Applejack did not deepen the kiss though, and the cheers of Dash's brothers and brother-in-laws soon broke the moment. It's like they'd never seen two mares kissing before.

Shot glasses appeared and alcohol was passed around. Rainbow Dash took hers and Applejack took one also. "Uh, Dash, what's this for?" she asked as everypony took the shot.

"Rule is," Dash said after taking her shot, "Ponies kiss under mistletoe, everpony takes a shot."

"Why are we takin' shots?"Applejack asked.

"Because we kissed under the mistletoe." Dash said, rolling her eyes. Applejack shrugged and took her own shot. Rainbow Dash took her now empty shot glass and headed back to the kitchen with Violet, who was also carrying several shot glasses that needed to be cleaned.

Applejack followed Dash away from the Hoofball game where the Ponyville Pioneers were too far ahead for her to be too concerend with watching anymroe. She heard low murmerings and saw Dash's mother, grandmother, and sister all whispering when she entered. Dash was standing off to the side, leaning against the refrigerator. She saw Applejack and smiled. Applejack returned the smile and walked over to her.

"Howya doin' Dash?" Applejack asked.

"Eh, I'm doing good." She said, glancing out the window quick at the night sky. "Getting late. I'm crashing on the couch tonight since the house is pretty full. You want one of the spare rooms?"

"Nah, ah'll stay with you." Applejack said with a smile, "More comfy that way." They both chuckled a bit. The whispers had paused for a moment but started back up once Applejack and Rainbow Dash glanced in the direction of Dash's family in the one corner.

"Probably talking about us." Dash whispered to Applejack. She tilted her head towards the hall and they both walked out of it, away from the gossiping mares. Away from them, Applejack and Rainbow Dash walked to the livingroom where the bulk of Dash's family was now seated; the colts and senior ponies had come in from outside and were watching the final minutes of the game.

Dash led the way into the sitting room where there were four sofas. There was a closet in the room from which she pulled a pair of pillows and a couple of blankets. Applejack took the offered blankets and put them on one of the sofas as Dash headed to another sofa. There was a soft rumble of discontent as the game ended in the other room and ponies started to walk and fly by the room. Applejack assumed they were all heading off to their various bedrooms to sleep for the night.

Applejack ignored the couch she had put the blanket on and pulled the blanket off of Rainbow Dash. Before the pegasus could complain, Applejack climbed onto the sofa with her. It was a tight fit, but in a minute the two mares were wrapped in each other's hooves and the blanket was covering them up.

"G'night Dash." Applejack said, rather tired from the day.

"Night AJ." Rainbow Dash said back. "Happy Hearth's Warming Day." They closed their eyes and in short order fell asleep.


	4. Happy Holidays

Rainbow Dash woke up when she rolled over and fell off of the couch. She snorted a bit, midway through a snore when it happened, then sat up with a yelp. Her eyes blinked and she smacked her lips. Yawning, she extended her wings and her forelegs, stretching and feeling the relief of several joints cracking and snapping. She hated the process of waking up, but being awake was more fun than being asleep.

From the floor, she looked back at the couch and wondered where Applejack was. The farmer was likely an early riser where Rainbow Dash liked to sleep in, but-

"Come back here ya thievin' varmint!" a sweet drawl called from the other room. Rainbow Dash looked that way and saw Applejack's tail for a moment before it whipped around a corner and out of sight. Seconds later, Twip ran into the room from the other entrance, darting around Rainbow Dash, with Applejack's hat on his head. Applejack jumped over the sofa-shaped cloud that they both had shared the night before and just missed tackling the young pegasus colt by inches as he used his wings to dodge vertically.

"If ah can catch Dash ah can catch you!" she yelled before darting off after the small grey pony once more as he flew off into another part of the house. Rainbow Dash snickered at her marefriend's predicament and pulled the blankets off of the sofa, folding them and holding them in her forelegs while flying up to the second floor to put them with the laundry.

She heard the wheezing laughter of her grandma Spring Breeze in another room nearby and quickly bolted for the window. Spring Breeze must have come before Rainbow Dash had woken up, and the young pegasus was in no mood to put up with her grandma's passive-aggressive attitude. For some reason, Grandma Breeze found the 'accomplishments' of Rainbow Dash's sisters to be of far greater esteem than all that Dash herself had accomplished.

Outside in the cool morning sky Rainbow Dash took a few seconds to enjoy the solitude. Less than a day back with her family and she was already grinding her teeth. Soon she would rip bits of her mane out in frustration.

Her brooding was halted by the sound of giggling. Dash looked towards it and saw a cloud spitting snowballs down towards the streets of Vanhoover. She grinned; tossing snowballs at other ponies from the sky was one of the best parts of winter. The dark grey cloud must have been a snow cloud since they were the best places to find an abundance of snow.

"Ouch!" A cry came from the ground. Rainbow snickered again and crossed the empty air to the cloud. Sticking her head into it, she saw her nephew Tweet forming a snowball in his hoof.

"Hey Tweet!" She said, grabbing one of the half-formed snowballs from the pile beside him. She grabbed a hooffull of snow and was about to make the ball a bit bigger when she detected something odd about it. It felt strange in her hoof. She looked at it closer and realized that she was holding a large chunk of ice. Tweet was coating the ice in snow to make it easier to throw.

"Hey!" She said, "That is _not_ cool Tweet." The colt looked at her with an arched eyebrow. "You can seriously- OUCH!" Tweet had throw the ball of ice and snow he was holding right at Dash's neck and vanished through the cloud. "Son of a..." she swore, taking off after him.

Every pony in Rainbow Dash's family was a good flier. Fast, strong, agile, but none could hold a candle to Rainbow Dash herself. She could catch up to Tweet in less than ten seconds if she really tried and if she was not distracted. However, much to the young colt's great fortune, she was distracted.

"DAAAAAAAAAAAASH!"

Rainbow stopped in mid air, her wings flaring out to slow her momentum to nil. Looking around, she tried to find where the sound of Applejack's voice came from.

"Up here!"

Looking up, Rainbow Dash was shocked to see Applejack on a tuft of cloud barely wide enough for her to stand on. She looked rather unhappy about it as well.

"How the hay did you get up there?" Dash called up to her.

"Stop shoutin' and come get me!" Applejack snapped, "Ah can walk on the clouds but ah can't fly no better than a rock!" Rainbow quickly flew up to her marefriend and wrapped her forelegs around Applejack's midriff, carrying her away from the small cloud and back to the house, in through the second floor window at the end of the hall.

"So how did you-"

"That varmint Twip!" Applejack fussed, "He took mah hat this mornin' and ah chased him outside to that cloud ah was on. Once ah got mah hat back he smashed all the clouds near me so ah couldn't go nowhere. When ah get mah hooves on him, ahm gonna-"

"So that one must be Applejack." Came a high, wheezy voice. Rainbow Dash buried her face into one of her hooves and groaned. Grandma Spring Breeze was present and accounted for, and apparently hadn't gone downstairs since Dash had left. "Yep, she has her granny's build. And her mother's eyes." This caught both Applejack's and Rainbow Dash's attention. they both turned to the pale mauve mare that hobbled towards the, her gray mane curled into a tight tuft atop her head.

"Y'all knew Granny Smith?" Applejack asked.

"Know her?" Spring Breeze said with a laugh, "The two of us were best friends for years and years! Who do ya think helped her deliver all that zapapple jam? Earth ponies are hardy and can walk clear across Equestria without a break, but my are you all slow! I was an unofficial delivery pony for Sweet Apple Acres before that Rich fella started to take care of distribution. Your granny and I used to have all sorts of fun growing up in Ponyville as it started to grow. Hehehe, why one time, the two of us met a real handsome stallion. We both had a liking for him but couldn't settle on who saw him first so we both took him back to the barn and-"

"Hey GranGran," Rainbow Dash cut in quickly, "Why don't you go find Granny Moon Drop-"

"She's got her muzzle buried in another of those confangled books of hers." Spring Breeze said with a look of mild disgust, muttering "Egghead."

"What's an egghead?" Twip's voice sounded. He fluttered over Spring Breeze's head with a small box in his hooves. Applejack shot him a dirty look and Twip looked abashed. He held the gift wrapped present out to her. "Sorry for taking your hat this morning Miss Applejack." he said with a pout.

Rainbow Dash was amazed at how quickly Applejack's cold, irritated expression melted away to a warm smile. Rainbow had never seen Applejack shift that quick before and did not think to warn her that Twip was _never_ apologetic.

"Awww, why thank ya lil' partner." Applejack said, taking the offered gift and patting him on the head before opening it. Twip giggled and flew away as Applejack stared into the box with a smile. "Aww, this is swee..." she began to say before a look of confusion crossed her face. She leaned her head in a little closer, gave a slight sniff, then dropped the box. "That danged rascal!" she yelled, jumping over the box and running down the hall and down the stairs to give chase to Twip once more.

"Huh?" Rainbow Dash leaned over the box and looked into it. There was a snowflake inside. A big snowflake made out of snow with a smiley face in the center. After a moment though, Dash could see that it wasn't actually made out of snow. It was some gooey white stuff with brown flecks here and there. She leaned in a little lower and that was when the smell got to her.

"Ew!" she yelled, stepping back from the box, "Twip filled this up with bird crap!"

"Ehehehehehe!" Spring Breeze chuckled, "Boys will be boys, ehehehe. I bet your grandpa is the one who gave him the idea. Might have shook some of his brains out of his ears to supply the crap too, hehehehehehe!"

"Uh huh, yeah," Rainbow Dash said, rolling her eyes and putting the lid back on the box. She took it into the bathroom and dropped it in the wastebin there. She was wanting to go downstairs and get some breakfast when her grandmother spoke again.

"So Dashie, when do ya plan on finally settling down?" the old mare asked.

"Ugh," Rainbow groaned, "Not this again GranGran. I'll settle-"

"Your sisters are all married." Spring Breeze said, interrupting her. "Pearl got married three times already."

"Yeah...two more than you're supposed to."

"And you haven't got married once."

"So?"

"I want grandchildren before I croak."

"You have a half dozen." Rainbow Dash answered dryly.

"Are you gonna marry that Applejack girl?" The question caught Rainbow Dash off her guard and she blanked out on an answer for too long. "She seems nice enough. Why haven't you proposed?"

"Well I...uh..." Rainbow Dash stammered. Why hadn't she proposed? It just never really came up.

"I'll go ask her for you." Spring Breeze said, hobbling over to the stairs. This brought words back to Rainbow Dash and also a new boost of energy.

She darted in front of her grandmother shouting "No!" but then she saw the grin and heard the cackle of the old mare and knew she had just been had. "That...was _not_ funny!" Rainbow said as she felt her heart beating its way out of her chest.

"Hehehehe, says you!" Spring Breeze cackled as she slowly walked down the cloud stairs. After calming down herself, Rainbow went back down to the first floor as well. More of her family had shown up in the morning and the place was getting rather crowded.

The living room was full of Dash's inlaws; the husbands of her sisters all cramming around the television to watch the highlights from yesterday's hoofball game with her father and grandfathers. The kitchen had several of his sisters along with her grandmothers chattering about one thing or another. Dash had never had an ear for gossip and all her family ever did in the kitchen was gossip and bitch about one thing or another, quite often about Dash herself, so she avoided that.

"Hey Light Wing," Rainbow said when she walked through the sitting room. It was vacant save for her snow white sister and pink sister Rhyming Shine, "Have you seen Applejack? Er, she's the-"

"The earth pony? Yes." Light Wing said with a snort and a roll of her eyes, "My my Dash, not only avoiding stallions, but pegasai as well?"

"Now shut it," Rhyming Shine said, kicking a tuft of cloud across the room and into Light Wing's face. "Who Dashie falls in love with isn't anything to make fun of. You can't choose who you love."

"Easy for you to say." Light Wing retorted with a giggle, "You married a lawyer in Canterlot. I'm sure there's no issues of _love_ there."

"Career notwithstanding," Rhyming Shine said.

"And still," Lighting Wing said, looking back to Rainbow Dash, "The best _you_ can do with all of your, *ahem*, _achievements_, is marry the heiress to an apple farm."

"And the Element of Honesty...and best athlete in Ponyville...and recipient of the most medals in the last Equestria Rodeo." Rainbow Dash muttered. "Anywho, did you see her?"

"Yes, she was going outside with my kids," Rhyming Shine said. "Metal Tumbleweed and Ebony Fortune wanted to see some of her, hehe, rodeo tricks. Grace Bolt went with them too because she's such an inquisitive girl. She's going to be a lawyer like her father, mark my words."

"Well that's fortunate because your sons are going to need a steady supply of horseshoes to polish." Light Wing said with a chuckle. Rainbow Dash left the room to ignore them and headed for the door to go outside. She needed to spend more time with Applejack and less time with her family if she was going to make it through to dinner.

The moment she pushed the soft white door open and saw outside, she was hit in the face by a snowball. Shaking her head to get the snow out of her eyes and off her muzzle. "What the hay?"

"Duck Dash!" Applejack shouted. Rainbow looked around for the source of Applejack's voice and ended up getting another faceful of snow. "Ah told ya to duck featherbrain!"

Once Dash cleared her face of the fresh bout of snow she saw Applejack on a dark cloud with a mound of snow piled on top, swatting a snowball out of the air with her hat. Rainbow Dash flew up to her, dodging a snowball from her right. She glanced that way and saw Tweet and Metal Tumbleweed on another cloud getting ready to throw another snowball. This one came right at her and she swatted it aside with her wing before taking cover behind Applejack's snow wall.

"Hey Dash!" Applejack said, giving Rainbow Dash a quick kiss on the cheek. "About time ya got out here!"

"How'd this all start?" Dash asked. A few minutes ago, Applejack was chasing Twip because of the 'gift' he'd given her.

"Ah chased yer nephew outside here and a few other colts ambushed me with snowballs. Ah started returning fire but they used their wings to block mah throws. Ah started using mah hat and now we're all hunkered down in our own forts exchanging volleys. Heads up!" she said, taking off her hat and batting away a snowball that was about to hit Dash in the back of the head. "Twip 'n Tweet are holed up over on that cloud," She gestured with her hoof, "And the giggly one...er...Tumbleweed ah think, he's with his sister over thataway." She pointed to another cloud near the other end of the cloud house where Rainbow Dash could see two sets of hooves making a rather ornate looking snowfort.

"Ebony's with me," Applejack continued, "but he took a hoofful of snowballs and is sneakin' around behind Twip'n'Tweet's flank to ambush'em. Ebony may be small but he's a crafty little feller."

Dash chuckled a bit and gave Applejack a hug when she stood up to throw another snowball. Applejack wrapped her free foreleg around Dash's head to return the gesture while throwing a snowball with her other hoof.

"Well at least you're having a good time." Dash said.

"Course ah am." Applejack said, "With the foals at least. Yer brothers 'n sisters are a hoofful. One of 'em, ah think it was Rhymin' Shine? She was askin' me questions about the farm like she was some hoity toity friend of Rarity's."

"Oh..." Rainbow said, a tiny bit of guilt over her sister's words rounding out her anger that she would insult Applejack like that, "I'm sorry, I'll talk to her about that."

"Nah it's fine." Applejack said, "Ah just treated her like Rarity more or less and got by. She ain't half so bad as yer mah. All that you told me 'bout her? Golly, ah thought you didn't get along with yer family much, but you made her sound downright friendly compared to the way she treated me at breakfast. Talk about a whiner! All she did was gripe about you not bein' married yet. Yeesh." Applejack rolled her eyes, "As if ah ain't gonna marry you."

"Yeah-what?" Rainbow Dash looked at Applejack and blinked, her heart having stopped for a moment. She had been trying to forget about the whole marriage subject that had come up not long before but now Applejack was talking about it.

"Oh right," Applejack said, "Ahm such an airhead sometimes, heheh. Dash, ya wanna marry me?" she asked, looking at Rainbow Dash directly now.

"W-what?" Rainbow Dash asked. She could not believe her ears. Was Applejack_really_ proposing to her? Here? _Now?_ Behind a wall of snow on a cloud during a snowball fight with a bunch of Rainbow Dash's nephews around? Dash had imagined proposing to Applejack in a more romantic way. Writing it out in the clouds, or having a dozen pegasai rain flowers, or something. But being asked like this? So casually? So off-hand?

It was _perfect._.

"AJ...of course I d-oof!" As she answered, a snowball flew in over Applejack's shoulder and hit Rainbow Dash square in the face. Tweet flew overhead laughing loudly and Rainbow Dash's nostrils flared.

"Get back here featherbrain!" She shouted, taking off into the sky to give chase to Tweet. Applejack had to hold her stomach from how hard she was laughing as she watched Dash fly away after her nephew.

The rest of the day passed with Rainbow Dash and Applejack receiving a many congratulations from just about every pony in Dash's family when they announced it at Lunch. That afternoon, Applejack went through what was apparently a 'welcome to the family' hazing which included incredibly foul tasting beverages, blindfoldedly jumping off the roof to trust her new family to catch her, and walking around the house backwards for an hour. The majority of the hazing was supervised by the in-laws, not the actual family. This made Applejack uncertain but when she asked Dash she just shrugged and said "Roll with it" so Applejack did.

Rainbow Dash and Applejack were setting the dinner table in the evening while the foals were outside playing a game of airball with a few of the adults who were not in the living room drinking or in the kitchen drinking and finishing making dinner. When the table was set the food was brought out and the newly engaged couple went outside to call everyone in for dinner.

Thirty-one pegasai and Applejack sat around the incredibly long table that curved around the living room in a large 'U' and extended outside quite a bit. Applejack liked that aspect of the cloud house; it was incredibly easy to remodel and customize to suit your needs.

A rather scrawny stallion who had arrived barely an hour earlier stood up just as everypony was about to dig in. He lifted his glass and said in a thin voice "I would like to propose a toast."

"That's uncle Soda Craft," Rainbow Dash whispered, "He was ordained a year ago and won't let a day go by without making someone praise the Princesses."

"A toast to Celestia, Goddess of the Sun." Soda Craft said, holding up his mug in such a serious manner that Applejack was tempted to snicker. She thought highly of the princesses- everypony did- but this was a little over the top, it seemed.

"And to Luna!" a young girl who came with Soda Craft said, holding her own cup up. Later Rainbow Dash would introduce her as Ballet Lace, Soda's daughter.

"And Cadance!" Pearl Pop chimed in.

"And Twilight!" Applejack and Rainbow Dash said at the same time.

"Ah'd like to make a toast as well," Applejack said, sitting up in her seat and lifting her mug of cider high. "Here's to Hearth's Warming Day, and that ah only ever have to see y'all again once every few years. Y'all can keep yer opinions, presents, 'n good cheer to yerselves for the rest of it."

The table was silent for what felt like many minutes to Rainbow Dash. Had AJ just insulted everypony? Was she not yet allowed to share in the family humor? Apparently she hadn't and she was, because a loud chorus of "Here here!" and "Cheers!" sounded among hearty laughter which was drowned by the drinks in everypony's hooves.

Rainbow Dash let out a breath she was holding and smiled, ready to laugh finally. She reached over to hold Applejack's hoof but she was gone. "AJ?" she said, looking around. There was a scream from outside and every pegasus at the table knew what had happened; Applejack had fallen through the clouds. Twilight's spell must have worn off sooner than they expected.

The idea of Applejack falling down to the ground and splattering all over the pavement of Vanhoover was enough to freeze Rainbow Dash with absolute terror for half a second. Fortunately for her, for them both, there was a room full of pegasai who were quick to react. The once crowded table was empty in moments and the sudden flurry of motion as every pony dove from their seats and through the cloud floor snapped Rainbow Dash out of her terrifyingly morbid thoughts and she was soon following her family.

Upon emerging below her parents' house she saw the rest of her family hovering around with looks of relief on their face. Two of them were already carrying Applejack back up towards her, one of them carrying her hat on his head. It was her nephews Twip and Tweet! That little bit of surprise was shunted aside as Rainbow flew right into the three of them and wrapped her hooves around Applejack, squeezing her tight.

"Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh!" she repeated as tears began to leak from her eyes, "Applejack you...I...fall...crash...couldn't...but..."

"Heheh, settle down now Dashie," Applejack said, wanting to hug her back but her forelegs were still being held by Twip and Tweet. She settled for nuzzling her muzzle into her marefriend's multicolored mane and kissing her forehead. The twins gave the task of carrying Applejack to Rainbow Dash who carried the Earth Pony down to the ground, placing her gently on the side of a road in Vanhoover.

Pearl Pop, Rhyming shine, and Straight Song landed near them to check that both were alright.

"Yeah we're fine," Applejack said calmly with a smile on her face.

"Speak for yourself!" Rainbow said, her heart still pounding against her chest as though attempting to escape. She wrapped her forelegs around Applejack again and the farm pony chuckled, patting Dash on the back.

"Alrighty then," Straight Song said, flapping his wings, "You two wait here and we'll go up and bring dinner down here.

"Hold on there," another voice said. They all looked up and saw the rest of Rainbow's family hovering around in the air. Her uncle, Soda craft, was the one talking. "Half of us ought to go up to bring dinner down here and the rest should find tables."

"Ya'll don't have any-"

"Everything is made of clouds." Dash said, still wrapped around Applejack's neck. "Bringing small clouds like tables and chairs down this low will cause them to vaporize into water."

"Oh..." Applejack said, not entirely understanding but not thinking too hard about it since she knew very little about weather and clouds and all of that type of thing. It struck her that she knew rather little considering she was going to marry Dash. _Perhaps I ought to read up on that..._ she thought, figuring Twilight would be able to help her out.

While Dash's aunts and uncles returned to the cloud house to gather the food and drinks and other dinner fixing, Dash went with her brothers and sisters to some of the nearby houses. Knocking on doors, they each explained the situation; the family get-together, the Earth Pony dinner guest, and the spell wearing off and asked if there were any spare chairs and small tables available so they could finish their dinner on the ground.

Every pony they asked was courteous and helpful. Tables of various sizes were produced from closets and basements and even offered out of diningrooms and kitchens. The ponies did not just send them what they asked, but emerged from their homes with their families of three, four, or five to bring seats.

The food from above arrived but was not the first placed on the tables. The Vanhoovians asked to join the pegasus family for dinner and brought their own preparations out as well. Four families joined, then five, then seven. The menagerie of tables lined up down the middle of the street continued to grow as more residents saw the Hearths Warming Day communal generosity spreading.

Rainbow Dash was much more happy with dinner now that she was not surrounded by her family. On one side was Applejack, obviously, but on her other side was Caramel, a stallion from Ponyville she had not known was from Vanhoover. Apparently he lived beneath her parents' house. Across from her was a unicorn she had never met before but who apparently had known Twilight back before Twilight had come to Ponyville.

"I'm so glad she made friends," the unicorn was saying to Rainbow Dash, "Really! She was so buried in her books that I honestly don't think she had any friends besides Spike."

The dinner lasted well into the evening and the sun set long before the crowd dispersed and the tables and chairs were taken home by their respective owners. Applejack and Rainbow Dash had to leave long before that, however, as they had a train to catch to get back to Ponyville. They both said goodbye to Rainbow Dash's parents and a few of Dash's other relatives but did not have the time to walk around and track them all down.

The pair raced to the train station and made it onboard moments before the doors were closed. Panting and laughing, they found an empty compartment and climbed onto the same bed, stretching out and entwining as best they could together. It took a few minutes for them to contour their bodies along each other for maximum comfort.

"Dash?"

"Yeah?"

"Ah love you."

"I love you too AJ."

"Dash?"

"Yeah?"

"Ah love yer family."

"Heh, I love them too."

"But most of them ain't too likable."

"Told you." Dash said. She opened her eyes and chuckled. "Hehehe! You owe me dinner."

"Ah dangit'," Applejack said, "Ah hoped ya wouldn't remember."

"Heheheh." Rainbow Dash chuckled as the clacking of the train across the rails became almost hypnotic. "First thing when we get back to Ponyville I want to eat."

"Ah thought we'd celebrate our engagement at yer place when we got back." Applejack said.

"Same thing." Rainbow answered, closing her eyes with a smile on her face.


End file.
